10 Best TV Road Trip Episodes Of All Time

What happens when a show's been spinning its wheels and needs to shake things up? Cue the road trip episode, wherein TV characters we're used to seeing in one environment get out of dodge in search of something new. This change of scenery can be the source of endless hijinks in comedies, or provide an opportunity for juicy character development in dramas.

In these tales, the open road can mean endless possibility — or too many hours trapped in a confined space with people who annoy you. It can be a time for bonding and self-discovery, or the moment where everything starts to fall apart. From high-speed getaways to family vacations gone wrong, these are the best TV road trip episodes of all time. Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Unsurprisingly, "The X-Files" takes an unconventional approach to road trips. In "Drive," a long journey west is spurred by a deranged man and a supposed government conspiracy. A husband and wife are pulled over after speeding down the highway, and the woman's head explodes. Mulder (David Duchovny) can't help but investigate, and the woman's husband, Patrick Crump (Bryan Cranston), kidnaps him in the process. Patrick is suffering from painful inner-ear pressure, and it's only alleviated by driving west at high speeds. The restricted space of the car acts a pressure cooker for the explosive situation, literally propelling the narrative forward and ratcheting up the tension. It's a relatively simple premise executed to perfection.

Patrick is not a very nice man. He's anti-Semitic, and hurls insults at Mulder, believing him to be Jewish. The episode was written by "Breaking Bad" creator Vince Gilligan, who cast Bryan Cranston because he needed someone to humanize this villainous character. The rest of the episode tracks Scully (Gillian Anderson), as she tries to uncover the cause of Patrick's mysterious affliction, but the meat of "Drive" lies in the prickly dynamic between Patrick and Mulder as they speed toward the Pacific Ocean. Mulder keeps his cool for the most part, while Patrick's bigoted, conspiracy theorist perspective both aligns and contrasts with Mulder's own. 

The "Parenthood" episode "Road Trip" is a beautiful piece of television that perfectly encapsulates what we love about this show. As close as "Parenthood" gets to a bottle episode, Season 3, Episode 12 explores various family dynamics within the confined space of a car. The Bravermans are en route to Bakersfield to visit Zeek's (Craig T. Nelson) mother for her birthday. They take four cars and communicate only by walkie-talkie, with each group facing their own challenges.

Zeek has brought a massive chair for his mother's birthday, and it's Crosby's (Dax Shepard) job to watch it like a hawk. That doesn't go well. Drew (Miles Heizer) caught his mother, Sarah (Lauren Graham), having sex, and now they have to deal with that awkwardness. Adam struggles to connect with his teen daughter, Haddie (Sarah Ramos), and mostly fails. Kristina (Monica Potter) and Max (Max Burkholder) aren't on the trip at all because they got into a fight, which pisses Zeek off.

Most significantly, we witness Zeek's relationship with his standoffish mother, who lacks the sort of maternal warmth you'd expect. It explains a lot of Zeek's behavior toward his kids, but also makes him realize how proud he is of the family he's built. The moral of the story? Despite how much they may irritate us sometimes, we love our family, and those relationships are worth protecting. "Road Trip" is filled with many sentimental and hilarious moments that illustrate this fact, and its interconnected structure works beautifully.

The "Family Guy" episode "Road to Rhode Island" is the first in a great series of episodes involving Brian and Stewie's disastrous road trips. In this inaugural outing, Brian travels to Palm Springs to pick up Stewie from his grandparents' house. When Brian loses their plane tickets after a night of drinking, they're forced to get creative. They hot-wire a car, steal a plane (and immediately crash it), and wind up at the puppy mill where Brian was born. While there, they discover that Brian's mother, Biscuit, was stuffed and used as a table. They decide to take another detour to bury his table/mother.

The highlight of the episode is the musical number that Stewie and Brian perform while riding home in a boxcar. At home in Quahog, Lois and Peter try to repair their relationship by watching marriage counseling tapes, only to discover the videos are actually adult videos. As one of the best "Family Guy" episodes ever, "Road to Rhode Island" features a simple yet satisfying narrative, numerous hilarious hijinks, and even some heartwarming moments thrown in there. As far as road trip stories go, it's hard to beat.

The road trip episode of "The Sopranos" is also one of the most important episodes in the show's history, and in many ways, ushered in a new era of television. In "College," Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) takes his daughter, Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler), to visit some colleges. Initially, they grow closer, as Meadow asks Tony if he's in the mob and he gives her a half-truth. Tony's semi-honesty disappears when he spots a former coworker who's been spilling secrets to the FBI. Tony strangles the snitch with his bare hands, father/daughter trip be damned.

Predictably, when Tony catches up to Meadow at one of her fancy New England colleges, he lies to her face about where he was, though the cut on his hand arouses suspicion. "College" is the fifth episode of "The Sopranos," when audiences were still getting to know the characters. We're introduced to Tony as a mobster, but one struggling with his mental health, indicating that maybe he's not as monstrous as he seems. "College" upends this assumption, showing us that Tony is a cold-blooded killer through and through.

"The Sopranos" asked its audience to sympathize with a monster, and "College" is where it all began, sparking an anti-hero trend that led to shows like "Breaking Bad" and "Dexter." It's an expertly written episode, with a subplot involving Carmela's (Edie Falco) efforts to seduce her sympathetic priest.

As is the case in most sitcom road trips, things don't go as planned when Will (Will Smith) and Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro) hit the open road. The oddball duo embark on a road trip to Nevada to visit colleges, with Jazz (DJ Jazzy Jeff) secretly joining them in the trunk of the car. When their car breaks down, they're forced to stop at a casino. Will makes the money to pay back the mechanic from a poker game, but Carlton develops an addiction to slot machines and refuses to leave. Will and Jazz abandon their fallen brethren, only to turn back around and come to his rescue.

And Carlton definitely needs rescuing. When local macho man Bo (played by Heavyweight boxer Riddick Bowe) gets into a fight with Carlton over his slot machine, Will steps in to defend his cousin's honor. Bo knocks Will out with a single, powerful punch, but it's the thought that counts. The episode is a perfect encapsulation of Will and Carlton's relationship, and the heart of the series. The two young men are opposites, and Will is often exasperated with Carlton's antics. But when the chips are down, they always come through for one another — even at the expense of their own safety.

After Adam's (Adam Driver) grand romantic gesture in the Season 2 finale of "Girls," things come back down to earth in Season 3, and everyone is their annoying selves again. In "Truth or Dare," the second episode of Season 3, Hannah (Lena Dunham), Soshanna (Zosia Mamet), and Adam take a road trip from (or to?) hell to pick up Jessa (Jemima Kirke) from rehab. Jessa has decided that she's all better now, though she's spent her time in rehab manipulating everyone around her.

Soshanna, as per usual, is living on her own planet, and infuriates Adam to no end. In one hilarious scene at a diner, Soshanna asks Adam about his favorite utensil and is disgusted by his very normal response of "fork." In general, Adam doesn't get the admittedly unhinged dynamic between the girls, to the point that Hannah accuses him of not understanding female friendship. To be fair to Adam, he may be on to something. "You hate them when you're not around them," he tells Hannah.

"Truth or Dare" is one of the funnier episodes of "Girls," in large part due to the dynamic between Adam and Soshanna. At one point, Adam even punches the car stereo because he's tired of listening to Maroon 5. It also illustrates how shallow these friendships are, as Hannah is mostly "supporting" Jessa to glean content for her book, and Jessa has no plans to actually better herself. Meanwhile, Soshanna is off somewhere extolling the virtue of spoons.

Putting characters in a new environment is a great way to shake up familiar dynamics, and that's exactly what makes the "Frasier" episode, "Travels with Martin," so great. Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) decides to go on vacation, and Roz (Peri Gilpin) convinces him to take his father, Martin (John Mahoney). Martin wants to see the country in a Winnebago, which isn't exactly Frasier's idea of a good time. Frasier invites Niles (David Hyde Pierce) along as a buffer, while Martin invites Daphne (Jane Leeves) for the same reason.

Few shows do farce better than "Frasier," and its comedic brilliance is on full display in "Travels with Martin." In a very un-Frasier-like move, the good doctor decides to throw out the map and go with the flow. Unfortunately, the flow takes them directly into Canada, which is problematic for Daphne, a recent British immigrant without a green card. The kerfuffle at the border is hilarious, especially since the only word Daphne can say in an American accent is "Sure." Other shenanigans include a very goofy photo-op with a grizzly bear and Niles' home videos, which mostly show Daphne sleeping. Though not the greatest "Frasier" episode ever, it's still a solid offering.

The eccentric friend group in "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" belong nowhere but Philly, so it's a good thing their road trip doesn't take them very far. In "The Gang Hits the Road," one of the best "It's Always Sunny" episodes ever, the boys plan a road trip because Frank (Danny DeVito) wants to see the Grand Canyon before he dies. 

The confined space of the car heightens the disfunction of the group, and further proves how incapable they are of getting anything done. Charlie (Charlie Day), the baby of the group, reveals how many fruits he's never tried, so the gang stops by a market to expand his palette. Mac (Rob Mac) launches a beer bottle at a cyclist, and Dee's (Kaitlin Olson) small bladder strikes again, forcing her to pee into a jar, which she later throws in Mac's face. Dennis (Glenn Howerton) and Charlie start a fire in the trailer by burning wicker furniture and pass out due to smoke inhalation. Everyone is drunk by this point, so Dee, who loves manipulation and hates taking responsibility, ropes a teenage runaway into being their designated driver.

"The Gang Hits the Road" perfectly encapsulates what makes these characters so great — and by that, we mean terrible. They're selfish, mean-spirited, deranged, and barely functioning. Their road trip is a total failure, but thankfully, disaster makes for a great episode of "It's Always Sunny." It's probably for the best that the gang never leaves Philly. 

In "The Milk and Honey Route," Don Draper (Jon Hamm) tries to outrun his past and write a new future for himself. The penultimate episode of "Mad Men" sees our intrepid ad man on a road trip with no end in sight. When his car breaks down in Oklahoma, Don is forced to spend a few days in a small town. "The Milk and Honey Route" symbolizes Don's desire to escape his history and become someone new. Though he has spent much of the series trying to avoid his past and create a fictionalized version of himself, this powerful episode sees him finally confronting his real self and attempting to let go. 

This is an episode all about how Don sees himself, and how he carries his lifelong trauma. He meets a young hustler, Andy (Carter Jenkins), who reminds him of his younger self. He attends a veterans meeting, and unburdens himself of his dark past — but only half of it. He tells the veterans that he accidentally killed his commanding officer, but not that he stole his identity afterwards. When they discover a bunch of money is missing, they blame Don, who quickly surmises that Andy set him up. Still, he accepts the punishment (a beating, and the loss of his car), perhaps as penance for the sins of his past. The road trip serves as a metaphor for self-discovery and the final stage of Don's disappearing act.

Like the best non-hospital episodes of "ER," "Fathers and Sons" gives us a new perspective on our favorite characters. Who are these people out in the world, in an environment where they don't have any power or authority? For Doug (George Clooney) and Mark (Anthony Edwards), they're two sons wishing they were loved better by their fathers. Their road trip gives them the space they need to meditate on their lives, without the distracting bustle of the ER getting in the way. 

In "Fathers and Sons," Doug and Mark hit the road after Doug's father dies. The two friends travel to California, where they learn that Doug's father, Ray, died in a drunk-driving accident that killed his passenger and a man with a wife and children. Ray's death brings up a lot of complicated feelings for Doug, who felt abandoned by his father, but still longed for his attention. Ruminating on the nature of fathers and sons, Mark decides to drive to San Diego to visit his aging parents. Mark is frustrated by his father's lack of effort in maintaining a relationship, while Doug gets upset with him for complaining about his relatively stable family unit — highlighting how different the two are, even in their shared trauma.